Government skulduggery
Below we publish an interview with Vasudeva Nanaykkara, a leader of the Nava Sama Samaja Party (NSSP, Sri Lankan section of the Fourth
International). It was conducted in December 1993 in Brussels, where he spoke at a conference organised to demand the cancellation of the Third
And in spite of the gains posted in the 1993 PC elections, the opposition remains weak and divided - symbolised by the recent defection of SLFP deputy leader Anura Bandarnaike to the ruling UNP, and the return of Democratic United National Front
(DUNF)? leader Gamini Dissanayake to the UNP fold. - Raghu Krishnan O
International Viewpoint #254 March 1994
World debt.
INTERVIEW
HAT has the
W political situation been like in
Sri Lanka since the 1 May 1993 assassination of President Premadasa?
The new president was installed in office by a vote in parliament not only without opposition by any factions in the govern-
### SRI LANKA ment but even with the tacit blessings of the opposition. It was only my single voice in parliament that demanded an immediate election and resignation of the government instead.
The ruling class was frightened that instability would arise. The opposition congratulated the new president and the entire opposition participated in paying last respects to the assassinated president. As the news of the assassination was known crackers were lit in different parts of the country to express joy. This is quite contrary to our culture. But the hatred and fear was such that the people reacted thus. We maintained that we offer no condolences.
The administration stabilised with the concurrence of the opposition and the new regime made a few cosmetic moves to show that it wasn't authoritarian. In the midst of this air of liberalism the regime continued with the harsh economic policies even more rapidly and brazenly. The police killed two persons by firing at a crowd of opposition supporters in the southern city of Galle. The regime was thus baptised in blood
The new president attempted to bring back into the government those who had left in opposition to his predecessor and thereby weaken the opposition further and
### Introduction
SRI LANKA made a brief appearance in the world news spotlight in November 1993 when the 10-year war between the goverment and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the north and east of the country took yet another bloody turn. The country had already been in the headlines in May of the same year, with news of the May Day assassination of the president and, a few days before, of a main leader of the opposition. Yet much to the surprise - and relief - of many observers this spectacular violence has not provoked the dreaded cycle of pogromist attacks and brutal government repression that the south of the country witnessed in the 1980s. While the war rages in the north and east - and the new president refers to the conflict solely as a "problem of terrorism" - in the south the government has charged ahead with the IMF-dictated "modemisation". This has meant a shift towards export-oriented production - largely textiles produced in Colombo-area Free Trade Zones - and all the usual measures associated with structural adjustment: austerity, liberalisation and privatisation, including of the massive State-owned tea and rubber plantations. While President Wijetunge talks of achieving newly-Imdustrialised Country (NIC) status by the year 2000, the country has a record trade deficit and is unable to attract anything more than short-term and highly fragile foreign investment - which is now looking to even lower wage zones in Bangladesh and Vietnam. Meanwhile, Provincial Council (PC) elections held in the south of the country last May produced opposition victories in three of seven PCs, including of the People's Alliance in the decisive Western PC of which the capital Colombo is a part. However, the ever-present authoritarianism of the United National Party (UNP) govemment led to UNP figures being named as the Chief Ministers in two of these three PCs. While the Court of Appeal annuled these appointments, the UNP-orchestrated abduction of an opposition councillor led to the dissolution of the Southem PC, which will hold new elections on 24 March. Suffice it to say that the democratic space is very fragile, and that the UNP's skulduggery around the PC elections does not bode well for the presidential and legislative elections scheduled for the end of this year. 34 secure a consensus to run the government. As a faction resisted this more, the negotiations became protracted and this section (DUNF) joined with the rest of the opposition to constitute the majority and assume office in three provincial councils on a quid pro quo basis.
But the negotiations with the president are not closed. With the immediate fears of instability wearing out, factional conflicts and manoeuvres by means of cabinet reshuffles had begun within the government and the discussion is increasing.
What is the difference between the new and the old presidents? The personal authority exercised by the assassinated president was a means of keeping self-preserving political decisions above the pressures of the bureaucracy while the weakness and incompetence of the new incumbent in office has succombed to all pressures, including those of the World Bank. Therefore the new government has become more vulnerable, while pleasing the ruling clan.
1. The People's Alliance consists of the bourgeois Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the old left parties, the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) and the Communist Party of Sri Lanka (CPSL).
2. The Democratic United National Front (DUNF) was formed in 1992 under the leadership of former UNP ministers Lalith Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake who were expelled from the UNP following their campaign to impeach former president Ranasinghe Premadasa.
which is expected to be raised locally. The party appeals to all friends abroad for maxi-
Contributions can be sent to: NSSP Treasurer P.D. Saranapala, 143/3 Kew Road,
Colombo-2 Sri Lanka. — Vickramabahu Karunarathne *
International Viewpoint #254 March 1994
What is the opposition doing now? The opposition engages in ritualistic oppositionism without throwing any challenge to the government precisely because it has nothing different to offer except variations in nuances. The trade union bodies controlled by this opposition alliance are reassuring its members that everything will be alright with the political changes at the next elections, to be held by the end of 1994.
Precisely because of the absence of any substantial programmatic political basis for the opposition, it is riddled with personal feuds. The rabid chauvinists formed into a group and acted defiantly. They supported Mrs. Bandarnaike's son Anura's claim to inherit the party leadership.
He resigned from the party very recently while he was under a disciplinary suspension and in less than a week he joined the government. This didn't make a serious dent.
However, negotiations are on to bring the DUNF into a closer political bloc with the opposition alliance, to prevent a shift to any left of centre positions and fill the right-wing void caused by Anura's exit.
The Socialist Party (ex-Trotskyist) and as the opposition, and they are likely to have quite a bit of success.
What is the NSSP doing? The NSSP's capacity is limited in comparison to the opposition alliance, in terms of the actual work we are able to carry out.
But we extend our support to the worker-student alliance and seeks to build up a left alliance (including the Tamil and Muslim progressive left with a notion of democratic content and a socialist perspective, while intervening with all its influence in all areas of mass mobilisation against the government's policies and chauvinist demands, for which any united action is welcome, including from NGOs and social
The new president's hard and belligerent stand against the Tamils and separatist fighters was meant to stabilise himself and the regime with chauvinist and military support. This resulted in alienating national and international opinion whilst embarassing his own prime minister who was thinking and acting more cautiously. Tamils looking for a political solution were disillusioned.
To this was added the serious opposition of the Tamil Cabinet Minister Thondaman, who represents the Tamil plantation workers, to extending the period of privatised management of the government and the plantations without any guarantees to his trade union regarding the workers' terms of employment and the rights of the trade unions.
This situation has put the president and the government on the horns of a dilemma. After a long period this has opened the door for talks between Thondaman and the bourgeois opposition party which hitherto was biased against the Tamil plantation workers.
A new political axis for Sinhala Buddhist chauvinism appears to be in the offing — to which sections of the ruling party, the opposition and student layers that champion fundamentalism are likely to be attracted. The left and progressive forces will move to counter these forces primarily while retaining its independent platform and programme seeking to advance along with the secular democratic forces that will emerge in the process of the electoral and other conflicts in the current period. *
NSSP on the campaign trail the Communist Party ("pro-Moscow") fused recently into one party. They ably THE Souther Provincial Council (PC) stands dissolved and elections are slated for 24 give the red colouring required by the March 1994. The UNP, ruling at the centre, was defeated by the combined opposition opposition alliance. One of the new party's consisting of the SLFP-led People's Alliance and the DUNF in the Southern PC. key leaders, Bernard, has been made a However, the Provincial Govemor, the mouthpiece of the govemment, unconstitutiominister in the western provincial council nally installed the UNP in office. Hence the People's Alliance-led opposition sought along with ex-UNP dissidents in a coali- legal remedy and won the battle, but commanded a slender majority of one. In its bid tion whose chief minister is Mrs. Bandar- to oust the opposition-held regime, the UNP abducted SLFP Provincial Councillor naike's daughter, a leader of the main Francison and thus destabilised and dissolved the council. bourgeois opposition party. It was only last year that elections to all Provincial Councils in the island, except in the
Following the defeat of the govern- war-tor North and East, were held. The NSSP contested independently and secured ment party in three important provinces in 1% of the votes and one seat. The PA, on which the anti-govemment masses pinned the last provincial council elections, the much hope, was able to secure power in three provinces. The right-wing DUNF, which workers and masses surged forward also contested the 1993 PC elections independently, secured 20% of the votes, and waging effective struggles in several work was one of the pillars upon which the PA relied to stay in power, including in the Souplace areas and universities.
And serious resistance against privati- Since the PC elections, Gamini Dissanayake, who became the main DUNF leader folsation in sectors such as the railway was lowing the assassination of Lalith Athulathmudali last April, has re-entered the UNP, of being prepared. But the opposition did not which he had previously been an important minister. And Anura Bandarnaike, former give encouragement, let alone leadership, deputy leader of the SLFP, has also joined the UNP and been named minister of to any of these struggles - with the exception of a few MPs here and there. So the UNP now appears strengthened, whereas the PA has become weaker still. The
The militant workers together with NSSP is contesting the upcoming Southem PC elections, independently again, and is students have formed a new centre for supported by certain ex-members of the SLFP, Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), action and support of mass struggles, and the Communist Party of Sri Lanka (CPSL). A few of them are even contesting on around democratic trade union and social the NSSP ticket. The NSSP is contesting the racist and chauvinist forces in this elecdemands, which intervened in several such tion but has a chance of doing much better than it did last year - provided it wages a events. They are also challenging the Sinhala Buddhist fundamentalist student cur- The NSSP needs a minimum of US$8000 for its campaign and propaganda, half of rents in the universities.
The bulk of students are from the JVP. Chauvinist and fundamentalist elements are seeking to form a separate new political axis to oppose the government as well them PC.
higher education.
strong campaign.
mum possible contributions to its work.
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